Yes, ActionSA is doing a good thing…
Let’s start with what happened.
ActionSA MP Alan Beesley swooped in with a bold proposal:

• Ditch the VAT hike (which would have bumped the rate up by 0.5 percentage points);
• Stop bracket creep, where inflation nudges workers into higher tax brackets even if their real income hasn’t changed;
• Give Treasury 30 days to go back to the drawing board and propose a new plan;
• Initially, the ANC gave the impression of supporting the idea and went along with it.

It’s a win for taxpayers, right? Less pressure on wallets, and more time to figure things out. But the DA is having none of it.

So why is the DA furious?
Because in politics, it’s never just about what you do, it’s about who gets the credit, how it’s done, and who controls the narrative. Here’s what’s really going on:

The DA feels politically sidelined
The DA had already proposed scrapping the VAT increase. Their version focused on cutting government spending to balance the budget, more fiscally disciplined, less populist.
But their plan was rejected in committee. Then ActionSA stepped in with a softer, less specific version, and the ANC backed that instead.

It stings. The DA sees itself as the grown-up in the room: making tough calls, protecting taxpayers and the country’s credit rating. ActionSA, in their view, swooped in with a crowd-pleasing shortcut and got all the applause.

The DA smells a political ploy
To the DA, this whole thing looks like an ANC-ActionSA tag team manoeuvre to steal the limelight. The ANC gets to dodge blame for raising taxes. ActionSA gets to pose as the taxpayer’s hero. And the DA? Left standing awkwardly with a well-thought-out proposal nobody supported. This isn’t just about tax policy, it’s about who’s winning the political optics war.

It undermines the DA’s leverage
The DA is already walking a fine line in its uneasy alliance with the ANC. They’re supposed to be coalition partners under the Multi-Party Charter, but if the ANC starts ignoring them and picking policy partners à la carte, then what’s the point?
Backing ActionSA’s version instead of the DA’s makes the DA look like a third wheel in a marriage it helped arrange.

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